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Pressure

Great opposition can be the hardest time to give the gift most worth giving. That is what I learned
from finals week this year. It certainly wasn't your typical finals week, seeing as I was also selling my contract for my apartment and moving into a house.

Suffice it to say, this has been the busiest season of my life, and it's only the beginning as my priorities are being redefined. A new stone has been cut, and through careful opposition--the kind that breaks hearts under pressure--a diamond will begin to emerge. Polished with all I have to give, however much that really is, this new life will become the fairest of gems if I will be willing to do all I can to hold light and refract it. I can hardly wait to see that day, but rest assured I'm ready to put in the work and to wait.

As such, my attention has been turned away from my indexing--appropriately so, I might add--in order to focus on the most precise timetable I've ever seen at the hands of the Lord. I haven't even finished trying to understand the feeding of the five thousand, and He still came to me at the fourth watch of the night when I needed Him the most. I understand that He didn't have to do this, and it would have been my cross to bear had Heavenly Father chosen not to bless me with the help I desired.

But I rejoice at the fact that Christ was upon the deep waters in which I, like Joseph Smith, am wont to swim. Just as Christ walked upon the water to the disciples in the fourth watch, just as He came to Moses in the parted waters of the Red Sea, I am among the numbers of troubled Saints that have seen Him come magnificently to my rescue in my hour of great need. May His name be praised in all seasons of my life, and not just because of this prosperity, nevertheless I'm most grateful for that prosperity indeed.

An Update on My Indexing Goal

To let you know how the indexing is going, I have just broken 1500 names. That leaves me to finish at an average of 350 names a day--entirely doable now that I'm on Christmas break. I'm eager to do as much as I can, but I've already seen that five thousand people is A LOT of people. Even the most basic records I could index take hours to get through, and this is through the most basic ministering I could do. In order to do as many records as I'm trying to do, I have to spend as little time as possible with each one. Maximum accuracy and precision in the minimum amount of time is my goal because I'm a mortal. These are my limitations.

But with Christ, He fed the five thousand in one sitting. He gave that miracle of Himself, and I'm sure it taxed Him. I've had the luxury of doing the most basic ministering over days and weeks, but He gave much more than that and did it in less than a single day. Sitting the multitude down and organizing them--a representation of His Church--has given me a greater appreciation of why the Church is necessary, the power of the priesthood, and how much more is possible under the organization of the Lord. I'm not one to balk at the yoke of the Church, and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm grateful that this service I'm attempting is providing for that lesson, regardless of whether I finish or not.

I know that Heavenly Father is the Father of our spirits. He is aware of our needs, and He provides for them. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the only Messiah, and He has power over all things. It was true in the time of the New Testament with the feeding of the five thousand, and I stand as a humble, yet firm witness that it is true today in the feeding of the one.

In His most holy and sacred name that I adore in sincerity and love, even Jesus Christ. AMEN